Musings of a sixty-something Catholic laywoman who has made The Promise to participate as a Pauline Cooperator in Fr. James Alberione's vision of evangelization through the new means of social communication.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Kurt Linnemann Found Not Guilty of Baseless Charges

Pro-Life Witness Found Not Guilty of Baseless Charges

Wilmington, DE, November 12, 2011. On November 10,
2011 pro-life sidewalk counselor Kurt Linnemann was exonerated of the charge of
causing a public disturbance by making a false 911 call outside the Planned
Parenthood of Delaware abortion clinic at 7th and Shipley Sts in Wilmington. The prosecution tried to paint peaceful
pro-life vigilers as dangerous disrupters of social order. Instead, this
misdemeanor trial, which ran for three hours in the New Castle County Court of
Common Pleas wasting taxpayer money, completely vindicated long-time pro-life
activist Linnemann. The case painted a picture for the public of the peaceful
demeanor and non-threatening deportment of the ordinary men, women and children
who gather regularly to witness to the value of unborn human life and to offer
women alternatives to abortion.

Kurt chose to be tried by a judge, not by a jury. Both sides
presented their case, and the judge rendered his verdict.

The Case.

On Friday, June 10, Kurt Linnemann, Sean Kovalevich, and
Susan Andrews arrived early at Planned Parenthood for the pro-life vigil that
takes place each Friday morning (surgical abortion day). They noticed a box
sitting in front of Planned Parenthood’s door. They had never seen a box before
in that position – deliveries are always received during the day. Was the box
dangerous? They discussed the matter and
decided that since there is heightened alert these days, they should notify the
police and let them decide. They could not step on to Planned Parenthood
property themselves. Kurt made the phone call to 911.

Upon arrival, the police cordoned off the area, examined the
box and found it empty. Planned Parenthood told the police that they had not
made the phone call, as officers believed, but that the call had come from Kurt
and Sean -- known to them as “regulars”. The police swiftly put Kurt and Sean in
handcuffs and took them away. Later,
they released Sean but arrested Kurt and charged him with making a false
911 call.

The state presented a very weak case. The police report stated that Lori Magno,
a Planned Parenthood employee, told the arresting officer that Kurt had seen
her come out of the building, examine the box, and go back inside. Since Kurt
had witnessed her doing this, the report reasoned, he knew that the box was
harmless. He had concocted the 911 story to disrupt business on an abortion
day.

The state showed the surveillance video for that morning. The video showed Ms.
Magno examining the box at 7:09, long before Kurt pulled up in his van at 7:16.
The video showed clearly that the police report was wrong – Kurt could not
possibly have seen Ms. Magno examine the box.

Upon questioning, Ms. Magno denied that she had made the statement attributed
to her in the police report. Upon questioning, the police officer stated that
he had written his report the day of the arrest, and that if he had written
that Ms. Magno had said this to him, he must have believed it to be true, but
in the confusion, who knows if he made an error in what he thought she had
said.

The state then played the audio of the 911 call. We all heard a very calm
Kurt say that there was a strange box outside PP and that it might be nothing
but they might want to take a look at it just to make sure. He identified
himself, spelled his name, described the box, all the time maintaining a calm
voice, not once urging them to get down there, or asking that the building be
evacuated. He simply reported that someone might want to take a look at it.

After the state presented their case, Kurt's lawyer asked for a dismissal of
charges. He noted that the case had originally been built on the arresting
officer's report of Kurt's knowledge that the box was harmless, but that the
video clearly showed Kurt was not on the scene to see Ms. Magno examine the
box. The video from the previous night, played earlier to both counsels, clearly
showed the box blowing up onto the property by the wind, thereby dismissing the
suspicion voiced by police on the day of the arrest that Kurt had planted the
box on purpose.

The judge did not agree to the dismissal, saying that the errors in the police
report did not matter. He still had some questions in his mind as to why Kurt
had made the call. If he arrived at 7:16, why did he not make the call until
7:33 if he thought the box suspicious? He wanted to hear Kurt's witnesses.

Ms. Andrews and Mr. Kovalevich, who had been sequestered and not seen the
video, then testified. Their testimony agreed with Kurt's. The reason for the
lapse in time of 16 minutes was because Kurt and Sean first greeted each other
and kibbitzed in friendly conversation, before Kurt noticed the box. They then
discussed it -- did it seem odd or suspicious? They were still uncertain, and
when Susan arrived with three children, they asked her if she thought the box
seemed out of place and odd. Susan agreed it was an anomaly, and although it
was probably nothing, it was best to be safe. Susan and the children backed
away from the front of the building. Kurt made the call.

The prosecutor tried hard to make the case that Kurt called 911 in order to evacuate
the building and cause a disruption. She spoke more than once of how the phone
call was all part of Kurt’s “agenda”. The judge questioned her as to what
exactly the evidence showed of Kurt’s agenda. She admitted that the evidence
showed that his agenda was to offer options counseling to women going in for
abortions, and apologized if the state had suggested otherwise. The judge asked
the prosecutor why, if Kurt’s intention was to disrupt business, he had made
the phone call a half hour before the business even opened. “Was he just incompetent?, the judge asked.

The judge ruled in favor of Kurt: Not Guilty. He saw no evidence that Kurt had
done anything other than be particularly vigilant about a suspicious looking
box at an abortion clinic, knowing that (as Kurt himself testified) some people
did bomb abortion clinics. The judge made reference to how unfortunately we
live at a time where not only do terrorists threaten, but also some protesters
"who are not as responsible" as Kurt, Sean and Susan, behave badly.

Analysis.

Of course, it's great that Kurt was exonerated. To
this writer, the most troubling aspect of the trial was how much money the
state spent on an essentially trivial matter, how willing the judge was to view
the pro-lifers suspiciously but discount the contradictions in the police
report and the Planned Parenthood testimony.

On the other hand, the judge was obviously impressed by the demeanor and testimony
of our three witnesses. They testified clearly and with no hesitation. The 911
call was innocuous. The video tape revealed a bunch of people setting up signs
and talking to each other. The judge saw clearly that there was no case, no
intent to disrupt, just ordinary people going about their business when
confronted by an anomaly.

However, in his closing statements he praised the Wilmington Police Dept., he
praised the Planned Parenthood folks, and he showed that he thought they showed
remarkable efficiency. He did not think they had done anything wrong in
arresting Kurt, he dismissed the discrepancies between the video and the police
report by saying "we're all human, we make mistakes", and he
obviously thought that although the state had a weak case, their point of view
was understandable.

Even though most of you reading this believe that abortion is an injustice,
many of you would never come to an abortion clinic to pray and vigil. I suspect
that many of you too have some of the same ideas that the judge had -- that
“abortion protestors" are a threat.

I would like you to re-think your prejudices against sidewalk vigiling, in
light of this trial. Kurt was brought to trial not because of his actions, but
because of a prejudice against pro-life witness and a pre-disposition to
believe that pro-lifers are extremists.

The culture at large still views pro-life witness as a radical political
activity. But this is not what we do
each Friday at Planned Parenthood. We pray. We counsel. We offer literature.
And people in the community respond. They can see that we care about the
community itself, about the men and women of Wilmington and not just the babies who are at
risk. The unborn need the protection of the law. We fight for this in the
political arena -- elect officials who will extend protection of the law to
every human being, born and unborn, healthy and ill, young and old.

But on Fridays at Planned Parenthood, we witness to the value of the lives
of the unborn children being killed that day, we pray for them and for their
parents, we pray for the abortionist and the PP staff, we offer resources, we
talk to clients, we sometimes take them to A Door of Hope or Birthright for
real health care for both mother and baby.

And even Kurt's judge - pre-disposed to view the state's case in the most
benign light -- saw clearly that we do not engage in disruption. We're just
ordinary folks trying to convey an ordinary Christian thought --- that all
human lives are valuable.

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Welcome! A Pauline Cooperator is a layperson who follows Blessed James Alberione. The Paulines are all about media, traveling the world via airwaves & electrons telling stories of Christ to our wild, wounded world. A world that longs to find the Way, know the Truth & be given the Life.
I am wife & beloved to Bill Stabosz. We fell in love at 16, married at 19, & have gone 43+ years through hell & high water, low water, no water, clear water & back to sweet Eden garden of earthly delights. I am mother to nine fabulous offspring, six of whom married and brought cool mates into the family. I adore my 15 grandkids (two more on the way!). I have good friends, few enemies, & way cool siblings. I used to work a day job at the University of Delaware but I retired in June of 2007. Like Don McClean, the three Persons I admire the most are the Father, the Son & the Holy Ghost. They are maligned & misunderstood. I love them. The Trinity has never let me down. Ever. Or anyone else who trusts the Three-in-One. Anyone. You